Wanderers have passed their first challenge this season with flying colours – but Ian Evatt has warned their next one may be even tougher!

Set the task of staying in the top 10 by the end of September, the Whites have performed admirably, sitting sixth with 17 points from their first nine games.

Evatt is now looking ahead to the next 10-game block, the majority of which will be played during October, and will be keeping his fingers crossed that all of his international players return safely this week.

“Everything is reset now,” he told The Bolton News. “With so many players on international duty you could – touch wood it doesn’t happen – lose people to injury, so your plans could change completely.

“This (end of September) was the first block we looked at. We will evaluate and go again with another block of 10 after the international break.

“But the plan was, looking at the fixtures we had, that it would be tough to be in the top 10 at the end of it all.

“We are, so now it is concentrate and re-evaluate for the next set of games.”

Sam Allardyce famously used a similar approach in the Premier League years at Wanderers, breaking down the fixture schedule and setting short-term targets for his players.

Evatt has his eye on the average number of points per game – currently 1.88 – as a yardstick for how the club is faring.

“It is something we looked at this season, really,” he said. “We looked at what it would take and what is required in this division to compete in the top six and how many points is required from the blocks of games. They do change constantly but if you are near enough two points a game then it is virtually guaranteed automatic promotion.

“That is the top line, that is what we are setting. It might not be achievable and I accept there might be times when we under-achieve, some where we over-achieve, but that is the benchmark.”

Wanderers have already taken on some of the division’s big hitters – and now face a different challenge as the winter approaches.

Evatt says he has been confident watching his team play on the lush green pitches of summer against sides who mirror his own expansive brand of football but agrees that they still have questions to answer against difficult conditions and contrasting style.

“Just because I have highlighted some of the tough fixtures we had in the first 10 games doesn’t mean there are no tough ones for the next set, believe me,” he said.

“This division throws up different challenges. Even the season makes it a different mindset.

“I don’t worry about us going to Ipswich, MK Dons away. I think it suits us.

“The issues in the past have been the challenging scenarios, winter is coming fast, and we have tried to learn from those mistakes in the past. We think we have personnel that can cope with those conditions now.

“The best thing I saw from the game at MK was the noise. The demands put on each other by the players was incredible. They demanded from each other and understood what was needed, it was like having 11 coaches on the pitch.

“In the past we have had players who have looked after number one and that was it.

“But once you start trying to help yourself and your team-mates then the team becomes a different animal. And maybe because I could hear them, it was a quiet stadium, I really thought this was happening the right way."